He sat at the desk with papers in front of him, but was staring out the windows at the glorious view. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove the bugs as Landis had asked, since all were in view of where he was sitting.

"Dario, I need to talk to you," she said seriously.

"Oh?" He looked at her with a neutral expression. "What's this about?"

"I'm going home."

He almost smiled, but there was no humor in it. "No, you're not.""I can't do this, Dario. I thought I could, but I honestly think it's time I made some changes."

"What kind of alterations are you thinking of?"

"They aren't just thoughts. I've decided I can't sell myself for a living anymore. Not for you, not for anyone. G.o.d knows I need the money, but not at this price. Last night I realized I'm too good for this." Heather dropped the envelope with the money Dario had given her on the coffee table. "It's all there." Dario didn't even look at it. "It wasn't my idea for you to have s.e.x with a woman, and you hardly...finished anyway."

"This isn't about last night or the...woman. It's about me."

"I see. And you decided to change your life over the course of ten hours." It was more a statement than a question.

* 269 *

"It would appear so." Heather was getting irritated with his blase att.i.tude.

"And how exactly do you plan to get back home?"

"I arranged a ticket early this morning." He wheeled himself to the middle of the room. "Is there something else you're not telling me, Heather?" Her face burned despite her efforts to remain calm. "Something else?"He crossed his hands and smiled. "My work is very important and very profitable."

"This is not about money, Dario. I-" He lifted his hand. "I am very well aware what this is essentially about. You see, with money comes power. And with power comes responsibility."

She didn't know where this conversation was leading, but she didn't like it. "Why are you telling me this?"

"People envy what I have, Heather. They want to take it away from me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said carefully.

"As am I." He shook his head theatrically. "So you see, I have to be cautious. Choose my friends carefully and eliminate anyone who poses a threat."

"Eliminate?" That word coming out of Dario's mouth had a different meaning when it came to friends parting ways.

"Yes. Don't you think it wise to eradicate danger?"

"Of course."

"I thought in due time we could become friends, Heather."

"I'm not looking for friends."

"And one can only be a true friend through the test of loyalty." He ignored her response. "It would appear Amber is the one I had ambitions for that friendship, and not Heather."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"Amber was honest and her intentions clear," he explained, flicking lint off his trousers. He paused and looked up at her with eyes of ice. "Heather, on the other hand, is a liar. A fraud."

"Why are you saying this?" She glanced toward the door.

* 270 *

"Like I said, people I choose must be tested for their loyalty.

And I regret to say you did not pa.s.s the test." He reached into his pocket. "Jules," he said, referring to the guy who tended him and wheeled him around, "has been a friend for years. Someone I trust will do what's best for me. He is a bit overprotective, but I do so appreciate that quality. Especially since he found this in your luggage." Dario pulled the transmitter and wire from his pocket and held it up.

She felt dizzy. She'd hidden the wire in a compartment of her suitcase last night before going to bed, but she was in such a hurry to pack and leave a little while ago she hadn't bothered to check whether it was still there. Jules must have snuck into her room while she was asleep and snooped in her things. "I don't know what I'm looking at. What is it?"

"I'm sure you do know." He checked his watch. "But I fortunately don't have the time or inclination to listen to your lies.

Unless, of course, you want to try something new, like...the truth."

"I...I..." She honestly didn't know what to say. "I've never seen that...whatever it is, before." Her stomach churned. She knew her blush was giving away the lie.

"I'm going to ask you one question. And only once. So think carefully before you answer."

"I already told you-"

He smiled. "Or I will do with you what is done with wood in the furniture industry. Recycle."

"Recycle?" Oh, my G.o.d. Was he going to cut her open and sell her organs? She fought a sudden urge to vomit.

"Whom are you working for?"

She contemplated a suitable answer. She couldn't tell him about Landis or Jack, because who would believe her, since she didn't even know who they worked for. Jack had never mentioned her last name and Landis...well, Landis had. But was it her real name? She had already changed her first name from Brett to Landis-what if Landis was a fake name as well? Even her friend and colleague didn't know she was a novelist. Maybe all of it was just a lie and she was being framed. Besides, if she admitted to anything at this * 271 *

point, it would make her seem an even bigger liar. "Working for?" She tried to look shocked. "I don't work for anyone."

"You brought the listening device along for...fun. As part of your show?"

"I told you I have no idea how that-"

"Jules," he called. The big man materialized and Dario told him, "Please let the police in."

"Police?" Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid Dario might see it. "What for? I haven't done anything wrong."

"On the contrary," he replied. "You've done everything wrong." Two uniformed Chinese policemen stormed in before she had time to reply. One grabbed her from behind while the other stopped in front of Dario.

"Let me go. I haven't done anything," she shouted. "Why are you doing this?" she asked Dario, her panic rising.

"In her purse," he told the policeman. "It's in her room." The cop went into Heather's bedroom and came back with her beige handbag. He rifled through it and pulled out a small white bundle wrapped in clear plastic. It looked a lot like cocaine.

"That's not mine," she screamed, and looked at Dario. "He put it there."

Dario shook his head, disgust on his face. "Take that junk away.

I can't bear to look at her."

"He's lying," she yelled as the cops dragged her out the door.

They pulled her through the lobby as everyone stared. Once outside, she spotted Landis standing a few feet from the entrance, and the image gave her hope she might still get out of this. But though Landis looked straight at her, she made no effort to intercede.

She just turned and walked away.

* 272 *

ChaPter twenty-nine.

Beijing, China Chase walked slowly away, seemingly disinterested in what had just happened. Dario's man had been watching as Heather was forced into the police car. If Chase had reacted, they would have thrown her in beside her, and getting justice in China was impossible. The judicial system here had a throw-in-jail-and-never-ask-questions policy. Heather was in a lot of trouble.

Chase negotiated her next move as she walked around the block.The crooked Supreme Court justice-Zhang-could get Heather out in a heartbeat. Chase had enough on him to blackmail him, but she'd have to get him alone, which was problematic. If she confronted him at work, he'd have her arrested or shot on sight, and if she waited until tonight to ambush him, she'd lose precious time. Besides, even if she did scare him enough to release Heather, he could have border control all over them. He wouldn't let either of them get away, knowing what they did about his connection to the organ trade.

That left her only one option.

She returned to the hotel and snuck past reception between tourists. They'd already seen her check out and she wanted it to stay that way.

Feeling for her gun the moment the elevator door shut, she looked around, and when she didn't spot any cameras, she removed * 273 *

the silencer from her jacket pocket and screwed it on to the Glock, then secured the weapon back in its holster. She knocked on Dario's door and his bodyguard answered.

"Hi. Remember me from yesterday?" She wanted to shoot him right there, but two other guests farther down the hallway were exiting their rooms.

The goon nodded.

"I can't find my wallet, and I was wondering if I could look to see if it fell from my jacket." The big man nodded again and was about to shut the door when Chase stopped him. "I want to take a look for myself. Maybe say hi to Heather and Dario."

"Heather isn't here."

"Then Dario." She smiled. "I won't be long."

"Let me ask if he desires visitors," the bodyguard said, and she let him shut the door. He came back a minute later. "Your wallet isn't here and Dario's busy. Maybe another time." She looked down the hallway and, seeing it was empty, pulled her gun and pointed it at his crotch. "There's no time like the present, if you ask me. Oh, if you had any intention of reaching for your gun, I suggest you abort the idea. Unless of course you want to spend the remains of your existence p.i.s.sing through a tube." The man slowly took a step back into the suite and she followed, never taking the gun from his junk. She shut the door behind her and reached in his jacket to remove his firearm, then led him at gunpoint into the main living area and motioned toward an armchair. "Take a seat. Where is he?"

When the man looked toward Dario's bedroom, she slammed the b.u.t.t of her gun against the back of his head and he fell limp.

Then she went to Dario's room and opened the door. He was alone, looking out the window. His other goons must have still been in their own suites or off conducting some business for him.

"Jules, since when do you enter-" He turned and spotted her.

"Jules is in the other room." She walked over to Dario. "Why don't we join him?" She wheeled him into the living room and * 274 *

positioned him where she could keep an eye on the goon. Dario didn't appear afraid or even moved.

"How can I help you?" he asked in a bored tone.

"You can start by telling me what happened to Heather."

"Ah, yes. Beautiful Heather. What a waste, don't you think?"

"A waste?"

"The poor girl has so many afflictions," he replied. "Prost.i.tution, drugs, bad company."

"Which of the three did you use to get her arrested?"

"I have no tolerance for junkies."

"I see. So, what prompted you to plant drugs on her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was shocked to find out about her abuse."

She took a seat on the couch across from him. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Please, where are my manners? Make yourself comfortable."

"Now, this bad company you mentioned...I'm guessing you weren't referring to yourself."

"I have been nothing but a gentleman to Heather." He straightened his tie. "I was referring to you. For whatever reason I can't fathom, she decided to work for you."

"How have you concluded this?"

Dario wheeled himself to the table and brought back a small plastic bag, which he placed on the coffee table. She picked it up and saw Heather's wire and the bugs she'd planted in the suite the night before.

"Jules found the wire in her bag last night, and after she was arrested, he scanned all the rooms for more devices. You imagine my lack of surprise when he found more. Heather's background is hardly one to make me suspect she did this alone or of her own initiative. But you..." He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I am certain you hired or blackmailed the poor girl to do your dirty work. But why? I don't see how I can be of any interest to you. Let me take a moment here to congratulate you on last night's stellar performance. I don't think I have ever seen Heather that...excited. You were both a pleasure to watch. Too bad you had to leave before the grand finale."

* 275 *

When she smiled, Dario frowned. If he thought he was the only one who could play it calm and indifferent he was wrong, because he was facing the master of aloofness. "I'm flattered. Although credit must be given where it's due, and the show was all Heather. It's not difficult to perform with such an amazing woman." The goon groaned and started to move, so she got up. "But that's beside the point," she said as she hit him again on the back of the head.

Dario cringed. "What is the point?"

She sat. "I know your furniture business is a cover for buying and selling organs. I know you use Chinese prisoners and have an agreement with Zhang to sign and expedite orders. And I also know you-or should I say your people-are not above killing innocent people to get organs. Like, for example, prost.i.tutes back home." Dario's eyes widened. "Who are you?" he said loudly, visibly reacting for the first time.

"If I were interested in your disgusting trade, I could have had you arrested weeks ago, but I'm not."

"I save lives. That's hardly disgusting. Lives that matter."

"Those who can afford you, you mean."